Consult, consult, consult

There is one peculiar happening that has time and again rocked the entertainment industry, the clash of events.

It would not matter much if a show organised by artist A clashed with that of artist B. you can easily forgive such kind of scenarios. But when the known annual events clash with other events then it points to a serious lack of coordination within the sector.

I remember the other year there was a huge debate when two established annual events; Sand Music Festival and Tumaini Festival clashed. The other time it was the Hangout Festival clashing with Tumain Festival and again Sand Music Festival.

When such things happen almost both parties involved would love to play victim and innocent, but surely when such occurrences happen it shows there is someone if not both playing on the wrong side. There can never be two victims at once.

On the other hand, bystanders too throw in their narratives, some viewpoints which are not even supported factually. As long as their voices and opinions are heard on the matter, they are okay.

From there, they draw both villains and heroes and with the sometimes social media hogwash, there is deliberate hate directed at those deemed to be in the wrong. The social media court can be so harsh and unforgiving at times.   

The latest of these unfortunate outcomes happened last week when dancehall artist Jay Jay Cee was forced to cancel his planned album launch show scheduled for Robin’s Park in Blantyre at the eleventh hour.

His show had clashed with the annual Blantyre Arts Festival (BAF), which this year incorporated culture. Looking at the mechanics involved, Jay Jay Cee realised he had his back against the wall. Naturally he had the sympathy of a majority of the people, who perhaps had in mind the trouble that one goes through to oragnise a show.

BAF organisers were portrayed as villains in the narrative and took all sorts of criticism from all and sundry. Meanwhile, the artist was at the corner watching things pan out having successfully played out the victim card.

But sometimes these issues need to be looked at soberly. By the way, I hope people are aware that there is an arts and culture events calendar which details all the major annual art and cultural and heritage events that take place yearly.

All these events are allocated dates on which they are supposed to take place from January all the way to December. This means annual events such as Gonapamuhanya, Umhlangano wa Maseko Ngoni, SandFest, BAF, Hangout Festival, Mgumano wa A Sena na Manganja, Umtheto and others have fixed dates when they take place.

But unlike these major events, it is hard for individual artists or event planners to figure out in precision as to when and where they will stage a particular event. For most it is touch and go as they see it fit and as resources permit them.

However, this scenario allows one to avoid the clashing of the known annual events. At least by now we know the sequence that these festivals and events follow as per the calendar provided by the Department of Arts and Culture.

Which means all that one needs to do when organising an event is to consult that calendar as well as the organisers of some events which fall within the dates where one is tentatively planning to stage their event.

We all understand that due to various limitations, some of the annual events appearing on the calendar fail to take place altogether or shifted to other dates. In mind comes the shifting of the Gonapamuhnya event which had clashed with Mkumano wa Achewa this year.

Such outcomes automatically provide a shake up within the prescribed programming. But with close consultation and close collaboration any such possible friction can be averted.

When The Nation talked to Jay Jay Cee this week, he said he was not aware of the presence of the arts and cultural calendar. That admission automatically shows that the need to consult was not even there. You can consult on something you are not aware of.

As the situation was, the result was very predictable and sadly the artist suffered the biggest knock in the whole debacle. I feel for him. But like I said, these are things that can be avoided. I hope all artists have learnt a thing or two from this. We don’t need another repeat.